Chapter Two
“Anne!” Mel screamed as I ran into the caves and knelt in the same spot Anne had been a few seconds ago. It was dark and cold in here and I couldn’t see. Mel was beside me in an instant and I handed her the rope. I was pretty good with a harpoon, Dad having taught me how to use one since I was a kid, and my uncle taking me out fishing every month or so since Dad died till now. I stuck it in the water but kept a firm grasp on it. A hand shot out a few feet away from me. Anne’s hand.
“Mel, pull us out when it’s time.” I said and then slid into the water. My feet didn’t touch a floor. It was deep in here, and almost freezing. I went under and opened my eyes. Salty water used to hurt me once upon a time, but I was used to it by now. But it was dark and I only saw a foot or so ahead of me. I swam in the direction of Anne’s hand, and a figure came into focus.
Anne was struggling to escape from what was holding her. When I saw the dark tentacles wrapped around her body, I froze.
Anne opened her eyes and saw me. Her mouth opened and bubbles came out, but I knew she was calling for me. I snapped out of it and swam to her. I grabbed her arm and tried to pull, but the squid or whatever was holding onto her was too strong. I resurfaced to breathe in some air, then I dove again and struck at one of the tentacles. The creature, hidden behind Anne, jerked and the tentacle loosened. I attacked another tentacle but then both of them wrapped around my arm and tugged both me and Anne lower. I tried to strike it again but the water slowed my movements down. I swam over Anne’s head and tried to look at the creature, maybe I could strike it from above. What I saw froze me.
A head. A human head.
A blonde human head.
A blonde human head that was looking at me with a scowl. A very human scowl. And she was still holding onto Anne, who hadn’t taken a breath in a few minutes now. Anne, who had just been asked out by the guy she’d been into for months and months now. She wasn’t going to die here, the caves, and whatever the hell that thing was, wasn’t going to take her. This wasn’t going to be her final resting place, like Dylan.
It took me a few seconds to snap out of this one, then I tugged as hard as I could on the tentacles and the creature thingy let go, out of shock or surprise, no doubt. I struck and my harpoon hit just below its collarbone. The tentacles let go of Anne and I pulled her up, all the while watching bluish blood trickle out of the wound caused by the harpoon. Anne broke the surface first and coughed and spluttered as we swam to land. Mel hoisted her up and I pushed myself up.
Something slimy wrapped around my leg and tried to tug me back in but Anne and Mel caught me before I could even scream.
“What the hell is this thing?” Mel said and she wrapped her arms around my waist and tugged. More tentacles wrapped around my legs.
“Some kinda squid.” Anne said. “A lethal one.”
I was about to tell them of the human head I’d seen but then I watched as the harpoon slid into the water and disappeared. “Guys, let go.” The tug of war hurt real bad. It felt like my body was going to be split in half. “Let go, it’s too strong.”
“You’re not dying here, Ner.” Mel shook her head and tugged more, her knees sliding closer to the edge of the water. “We’ll tug you out.”
“It hurts.” I felt my body relax, the muscles worn out. I couldn’t fight anymore. “Let go. I’m not gonna make it out in one piece.”
“Missing a piece or two is better than resting in peace.” Anne said and tugged on my arm. “You didn’t give up on me.”
“Oh, shit.” Mel said as she looked at a spot above me. I turned my head to look, and saw one of the tentacles raised, curled around the harpoon. It came down hard and pierced Mel’s arm.
Mel screamed in agony and let go of me automatically. Anne’s grip loosened from shock, and the creature took advantage of this and tugged me down into the water.
My back was to the creature, and its tentacles were wrapped tight around me. It raised the harpoon and held it to my neck, as if warning me not to try and get away. I held as still as I could and waited for what came next. Was this what had happened to Dad and Dylan? Did their muscles give away at some point? No one had tried to tug them, no one had tried to save him. Dylan had been all alone when he’d drowned. My throat closed up and I knew it wasn’t because I was underwater with no oxygen. It was because I felt scared and cold and alone. It was terrible. And my father and brother had gone through this.
I wanted to kill that creature. I wanted to kill the monster that killed half of my family. My mother wasn’t going to survive this. I’d promised her I’d be back. Just like Dylan had promised me. The agony had almost killed me. My mother…
I sagged against the creature and hoped it would all end soon. My lungs were starting to burn, and I needed to breathe. I really needed to. The creature sensed my distress and moved the harpoon away. I started thrashing and struggling, bucking against it. I needed air! I needed to breathe! The water…it was too much.
Just when I was about to open my mouth and breathe in water – and die – we broke surface. But everything had already gone black.
The ground beneath me was hard and jagged. I moaned and then opened my mouth and coughed out water. I rolled onto my side and every muscle in my body ached. My bikini was askew and for some reason that made me feel really uncomfortable and awkward. I tugged everything back into place and sat up, some sort of cloth pooled at my lap. Someone had covered me up. I looked around me but my vision was hazy, I could hear water somewhere though.
I rubbed my face and eyes and then opened them again. My vision was slightly better. I was inside the caves for sure. But I was on dry land. I looked beneath me, and found that I was on some sort of rock. Its surface was somewhat flat. And I was surrounded by water. And I wasn’t alone.
“Holy SHIT!” I screamed and scrambled to my feet, lost balance, and – to my horror – fell into the water, the water that was filled with shirtless people. I screamed as hands, human hands, grabbed me and tried to keep me above surface. I was having a full-blown panic attack, screaming and kicking.
“She’s got some fight in her.” Someone behind me – male – said and I screamed again and tried to get away from it – him?
I was pulled back onto the rock, and I wrenched myself away from the hands that were grasping my forearms. I almost fell back into the water, but the hands grabbed me and righted me. I screamed and batted at them.
“Neri, stop. It’s me.”
I froze.
No, it couldn’t…It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be…him.
Slowly, very slowly, I turned around. “Oh my God!” I screamed and almost fainted again, but I composed myself and a voice inside me told me to stop being a wuss and to pull myself together.
Dylan – my presumed-dead-for-two-years-brother Dylan – stood in front of me with his arms reaching out to steady me if I fell or something, wearing blue swimming trunks, the ones he’d been wearing before he left the house that day. It was him. Either that or I was in heaven, dead as well. But it didn’t look – nor smell – like heaven. It looked and smelled like the inside of the caves. So either I was dead and stuck here for some reason, or Dylan wasn’t dead. Which didn’t make any sense to me.
“Nerida?” He said hesitantly. His voice was deeper, but with a rasp. His hair a bit longer, plastered to his neck. His muscles were more defined, but he was leaner.
“D-Dylan?” I whispered. “What…? How…? I…I don’t understand.”
“It’s okay, little sis.” He stepped towards me hesitantly then, when he was sure I wasn’t going to try and bolt again, he closed the distance between us and put his hands on my shoulders. “Are you all right? Do you need to lie down again?”
“Me?” I squeaked. Okay, so I was still freaking out. After all, I was talking to my dead brother. “Am I all right? You’re alive!”
“Yes.” He dropped his arms and looked guilty and sad. What? “I…I wanna explain to you…”
“No explanation needed.” I grabbed his arms and held onto them. My brother was alive. Dylan was alive! “They kidnapped you like they did me. Can’t you leave though? Are we stuck here? We have to tell Mom that we’re okay. She’ll think I drowned too and I don’t think she can handle-what?” The look on his face made me pause. “You were kidnapped, right?”
Dylan stepped away from me and faced the others. One of them glided – not swam, glided – through the water towards the rock, barely causing ripples in the water, and reached for him. Dylan got on one knee and reached down to hold her hand. She had dark hair and emerald eyes. “Tell her, my love. She will understand.”
“She won’t.” He whispered and shook his head. Then he brought the woman’s hand to his lips and he pressed a kiss to her fingers. He let go of her hand and stood up, and slowly turned to face me.
Dread filled me as I looked at him standing there. He was about to tell me something, and I knew I wasn’t going to like it. It was going to crush me.
“I didn’t drown, Ner.” His eyes were begging for my understanding, but I just stared at him. “I…I came here and met with Cordelia. I wanted to become one of them. I love her, sis. It was the only way.”
“What?” I asked. “What do you mean, one of them?”
“Merfolk.” The woman – Cordelia? – said. “Your brother is a merman now.”
I burst out laughing. My mind was rejecting what they were saying. A mermaid? My brother was a mermaid? Merman, sorry. He was a merman. What the hell? Was this some kind of sick joke my unconscious mind was playing on me? Was this what being dead was like?
“It’s true, Nerida.” Dylan said and stepped towards me. “I’m sorry I put you all through this-“
“This isn’t real.” I shook my head. “You’re dead. I’m hallucinating. Maybe I hit my head on the way down. Maybe I’m dead too. That octopus thingy dragged me down and…” I trailed off. The octopus or squid-like thing that had pulled Anne into the water. It came back to me. I’d gone into the water and had seen a blonde head. I’d hit its torso with my harpoon, and then it had taken me.
“It wasn’t an octopus.” Dylan said, sympathy and guilt shining in his green eyes. “Well, not completely.”
“Not completely?” I barked out a laughed. “What? Next you’ll tell me this was Ursula or something. Dylan, mermaids don’t exist.”
Muttering erupted around us. I looked at the faces of the half-naked people surrounding us and noted that they looked either bored or offended.
“I didn’t think so either.” He grabbed my hands and tugged on them so that I looked at him and paid him attention. “We need to talk, little sister. About so many things.”
“We can’t.” I shook my head again. “Because you’re dead. I’m imagining all this. You drowned near the caves. We even held a funeral. Mom broke down and went to the hospital and I got depressed and went to therapy. You’re dead and I need you to stop trying to convince me otherwise. You’re dead, Dylan. I mourned you and I still do. I just cried about it not a few hours ago. I dreamed about you and Dad, how you both drowned. You’re dead and I accepted that. Don’t do this to me. You’re a figment of my imagination, but I never thought you’d be this…this cruel!” I was crying now and he was crying too, his chest heaving. God, everything hurt. Emotionally and physically. “Don’t make me believe or hope for a second that you’re alive or this is real, and then I wake up and have to accept once again that you’re dead and never coming back. Don’t do this to me, please.”
I collapsed into Dylan’s arms and he held me close as I sobbed. God, this was torture. Pure torture. My brother was dead, and if this was a dream then this was crueler than reliving Dad’s death or Dylan’s a hundred times in a row. This felt too real, as if Dylan was really alive but a merman. As if he’d chosen to abandon us for some mermaid.
I started laughing, while still sobbing, about the absurdity of it all. The dream or hallucination was cruel, but atleast it had some comic relief. I pulled back to look at Dylan. “Mermaids? Really Dylan?”
“How can I prove to you that it’s real?” He asked and wiped my tears away. “Dad never told us they didn’t exist, and he knew the ocean better than anyone.”
“Marine biologists disputed those rumors and legends.” I shook my head. “Dad loved the sea, and liked to tell us bedtime stories about mythical sea creatures. They’re not real, Dylan. Just like you.”
He winced and there was so much pain in his eyes I regretted saying those things to him. Then I remembered that I was imagining all this, and that Dylan wasn’t hurt. He was dead. Dead people couldn’t get hurt. “I need to wake up soon, Dylan. I need to know if I made it back to Mom.”
“What brought you here, Nerida?” He was getting impatient now. “You saw what attacked you, what did you see?”
“A squid, or an octopus.” I refused to admit the rest.
“Was that all you saw?” He studied me carefully. Dammit, he always could read me like an open book. “What else did you see, Ner?”
“I was under water and I was trying to save my friend.” I shook my head. “I wasn’t thinking or seeing straight. I imagined it…”
“What did you imagine?”
“A head, okay?” I pushed him away and took a few steps back, careful not to fall and join the half-naked alleged merfolk again. “A blonde human head.”
“Half-octopus…” He said slowly, not breaking eye contact with me. “And half-human.”
“I did not just get abducted by Ursula the sea witch!” I snapped. “I was abducted by some sorta squid, it was bigger than an octopus.”
“Why would a squid abduct you?”
“I don’t know, they’re squids!” I rubbed my face. “Is this really happening to me?”
“Nerida, snap out of it.” Dylan sounded angry now and I glared at him. I was the one hallucinating and talking to my dead brother while surrounded with half-human half-fish thingies. He was not allowed to be angry. “Mira kidnapped you-“
“It has a name now?” I cut him off and laughed. “Mira? Really?”
“She didn’t know you were my sister. We’re told to attack anyone who trespasses on our territory.”
“We weren’t trespassing.” I replied. “We were hanging out by the caves, like everyone does. Anne saw something and went to check it out. Then Mira pulled her into the water. I dove in, hit her with a harpoon, got out, but she got me again and I let her take me because the tug of war sorta hurt.” I scowled at him. “And stop saying we. You’re with us. You’re not half-fish.”
“Darling, show her.” Cordelia spoke again. She had a raspy yet Betty-Boop-ish voice. “She won’t believe it until she sees it.”
“Must we put ourselves out there like this?” Another guy – merman? – spoke. He had slicked back blond hair and his arms were crossed over his massive chest. “The girl has already seen and heard too much.”
“She’s my sister, Uriel.” Dylan said. “She has a right to know. I put her and my mother through enough misery to last a lifetime. She deserves to know.”
“What is going on here?” I muttered to myself and started pacing. I heard a splash and looked down to see Dylan in the water. He squirmed a bit then threw a balled up piece of cloth onto the rock. Upon closer inspection I found out it was his swimming shorts. My eyes rounded and I glared at him. “If you even dare come out of the water without those on…” I trailed off as Dylan shot out of the water, flipped and dove back in, but not before I saw that he had an honest-to-God mermaid tail. A dark-blue, scaly, mermaid tail with fins and all. He resurfaced and looked at me, holding his arm up. “The shorts?”
I stood there frozen, my mouth agape. My brother had a tail. Just a few seconds ago he was standing on two legs in front of me. Now he had a tail.
“Neri, the shorts, please.”
“This isn’t real.” I shook my head and started when shouts of offense and anger rose from the half-naked merpeople around me. “Shut up! This is not real.”
“Just give me the shorts and we’ll talk.”
I pushed the shorts towards him with my foot. He caught them and slipped them on then the others gave him a boost till he was on the rock again. I looked at his feet and couldn’t believe they’d been a tail not a minute ago.
“You were taken by a half-human, half-octopus, a cecaelia, and she brought you here. Once I saw who they’d brought in, I asked them not to take any drastic measures, but we had to report it. This is real, sis.”
Oh God…This was real? Mermaid existed and my brother was one now? He hadn’t drowned? He’d let us think he did, but he’d chosen this? He’d abandoned us for a fish? My mind kept rejecting all that, it couldn’t be real. This wasn’t some teen drama flick where mythical creatures existed. Mermaids were like vampires and werewolves, they didn’t exist.
“Are you really asking me to believe in something that was in a Disney movie?” I shook my head at him. “Dylan, you know I don’t believe in this stuff. You know me. Even when Dad used to tell us bedtime stories I never believed it. I didn’t even believe in Santa.”
“What more do you need, Nerida?” He snapped. “You saw who took you. You just saw me with a goddamn tail! What more proof do you need?”
“Maybe this is all in my head.”
“It’s not.” He shook his head. “Can’t you tell the difference between real-life and a dream? This is real, Nerida.”
I sat down and rested my elbows on my thighs, the heels of my palms on my forehead. God, this was crazy. But I was beginning to be swayed. I was beginning to believe in the impossible. I’d made fun of those movies where people accepted things they’d thought impossible all their lives. But here I was, faced with something even worse, and I was beginning to accept.
“You’re really a mermaid?” I asked without looking up at him.
“Merman.”
“Yeah.” I rubbed my face. “And you did all this, for a girl?”
“Cordelia.” His voice softened when he said her name and anger coursed through me. I tensed up so that I wouldn’t do anything drastic. “I love her, sis. So much.”
“So much you broke your family’s heart by pretending you drowned?” I looked up at him and he took a step back from the rage he had to be seeing in my eyes. I stood up and balled up my hands into fists, rage consuming me. My voice echoed in the caves as I bellowed at him. “By pretending you died the same death as Dad’s? Do you have any idea what you put me and Mom through? Now if you’d done this and Dad was alive and well, then yeah, maybe we could’ve forgiven you after some time. But after what happened to Dad?” I shook my head and lowered my voice. “I wish you were really dead, Dylan. I wouldn’t hate you so much if you were. I’d rather you went back to being the dead brother who I loved and mourned, rather than being this pathetic excuse of a man who was so selfish he put his family through hell just so he can mess around with a goddamn fish!”
“Neri…” He held his hands out for me but I stepped back. His eyes shone as tears ran down his still-glistening cheeks. “You have to know that it wasn’t easy for me to do that. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. It was either that or Cordelia would be taken away from me. She was going to be sent to the pits for associating with a human and telling him about our secret. I couldn’t let them do that to her. I couldn’t let them take away her life and her freedom for me. I love her, sis. I had to change. I had to leave. But it killed me-“
“Obviously it didn’t.” I snapped then waved my hand up and down his body. “You’re still alive.”
“She was gonna waste away in there.” His eyes begged me to understand. “I couldn’t let her. I had to save her. I’m not the first one to make this sacrifice.”
“You didn’t sacrifice anything!” I cried. “You came here to be with the girl you loved! Mom had to be hospitalized! I found her in the kitchen holding a knife to her wrist, Dylan!” I didn’t stop when he started crying in earnest. “I stopped her just in time. And what about me? I can’t even care about anyone because I’m scared I’ll lose them. I have nightmares regularly and I beat myself up because I didn’t have the chance to tell you all I had to tell you. You didn’t sacrifice shit. We’re the ones who felt the pain of your decision, not you. And even if you did feel anything, then it is nothing compared to what we went through. What we still go through till this day.”
“You’re right, I found someone.” He nodded, his voice hoarse and broken. It tugged at my heart now that I’d said what I wanted to say. “But I also lost two of the most important people to me. I mourned you and Mom, Nerida. I mourned you and it was hard for me, too. The guilt…you can’t imagine it.”
“You made a choice, Dylan.” I said. “You get to live with it. And Mom and I get to try and accept it.” I ran my fingers through my tangled, damp hair. “Now, I need to know what exactly will happen to me.”
“Well, while you were out we reached a decision.” He said and looked around him nervously. “We sent out a messenger with it, and we’re waiting for a word from the kingdom.”
“Kingdom?” I asked. “What kingdom?”
“Our kingdom.” Cordelia answered and I looked at her while gritting my teeth. She was the reason Dylan had left us. She was the reason we’d been put through hell. “The king, Leven, he is my cousin. I sent out the decision in hopes of some leniency. His word will arrive shortly.”
“Great.” I muttered. “My brother’s screwing around with royals.”
“Not screwing around.” Dylan said defensively. “We’re getting mated, right after we celebrate Leven’s tenth anniversary of ruling.”
“Just stop talking, Dylan.” I cupped my forehead as a headache started. “I don’t care about all this. I won’t care. I don’t want to hear anything about you or her. She’s the reason you left us but I won’t blame her completely. You’re to blame here. But I don’t wanna hear it.”
“Nerida, please.” He approached but I stepped back and held up my hand. “Just give me another chance.”
“What can happen to me?” I asked, changing the subject. “Worst case scenario, what can happen?”
“Death.” A mermaid with long brown hair a few feet away said. “You’ll have to be drowned.”
“Or turned into one of us.”
“There’s a third option.” Dylan scowled at them and then turned to me, his expression softening. “You could be one of the humans who know about us.”
I waited for him to elaborate but he just stood there gauging my reaction. “What, that’s it? Where’s the trick in all this?”
“You have to wear a charm.” Cordelia said. “To ensure that you won’t betray our secret.”
Charm? Magic existed, too? “What happens if I try?”
“Your lungs fill with water rapidly and you drown.” She said without much emotion. “And there’s no going back. And you can’t take it off.”
“They only hand those out once or twice every few decades.” A bald merman near the rock said. “And since we agreed to let Dylan shift, I don’t think the kingdom will be in a giving mood.”
“A member of the royal family asked for it.” Cordelia replied haughtily. “They might consider it.”
“The same member who asked for a human to be shifted.” Bald Merman said. “It’s frowned upon even when a commoner does it. Let alone a royal…”
That guy had major guts, talking to a member of the royal family like that. I looked at Dylan, who looked very distraught and nervous, and sighed. “What happens if they decide to kill me?”
His eyes flashed. “Let’s just wait till we hear something.”
“So I’ll just die if that’s their decision?” I nodded. “What the hell did you get me into, Dylan?” My eyes welled up, thinking about Mom waiting for me to show up for dinner. I hadn’t even told her I was going to the caves. “Goddammit, I shouldn’t have come here. Mom’s waiting for me…I promised her… Goddammit, why do we keep breaking our promises to her?”
“I’ll do all I can, Ner.” His eyes glistened. “I’ll do all I can to get you out of here safe.”
There was a commotion at one of the tunnels leading…somewhere, and I saw a skinny man swim his way to the rock. “King Leven sent me with his and his councilors’ final decision.”
My heart started racing and I really wanted to hold onto Dylan, but I was still too upset with him. I didn’t know if I’d ever forgive him for doing this to me and Mom. Dylan moved towards me but I balled my hands up into fists, I didn’t want him to touch me. I was cold and scared and tired, and I was worrying about how I was going to explain all this to Anne and Mel, and Mom. If I even made it out of here alive.
“King Leven sends his regards to his cousin, Princess Cordelia, and her soon-to-be-mate, Dylan. He wishes it to be known that, under other circumstances, he would have decreed the human to be drowned instantly. But as the human happens to be the princess’s soon-to-be sister, King Leven shall present her with a choice. Either she joins the kingdom and becomes a mermaid, and to pledge her loyalty to his majesty and the merfolk, or to return to land and wear the mercharm, as a token of gratitude and loyalty, and to ensure the secrecy and security of the merfolk. Let it be known that if she chooses the latter, she can never disarm herself of the mercharm, and she will live out the remainder of her days on land guarding the secret bestowed upon her.”
“Or else I die.” I muttered but Dylan shot me a look, telling me this wasn’t the time for my smartass-ness. He was really worried about me. He really was. He didn’t have the right to be worried about me, he left me. He lost that right when he chose to be a fish.
“King Leven also wishes to inform you that, as he does not extend this courtesy to anyone, he has allowed this transgression for the sake of keeping peace within the royal family. He requests that you make a decision now.”
“Well, that’s easy.” I shrugged. “I’ll stay on land.”
“Hold on, Orcin.” Dylan turned to face me. “Think about this, Nerida. If you go back to land, the minute you even hint that merpeople exist, you will drown. You can’t tell anyone about us. Not even Mom.”
“I would never tell Mom.” I replied coldly. “Even if I could. I would rather she thought you were dead. I think if she found out you were alive, but chose to hurt us like that, she wouldn’t handle it. I don’t want to hurt her, Dylan.”
He flinched at my words but I crushed down the guilt that started to reveal itself inside me. I wasn’t going to feel guilty. Nothing about this was my fault. He deserved to be in pain.
“You can’t tell anyone, Nerida. Think about this.”
“What’s the alternative?” I asked him. “Leaving Mom? Making her think I drowned as well? I won’t put her through this. I won’t think about this again, Dylan. You wanted me and Mom to think you were dead? Well then the minute I leave her, you’ll go back to being dead to me.” I held up my palm. “Actually no, that would mean that I’d still mourn you. I’ll just pretend you never existed, then.”
“So the human chooses land?” Orcin asked.
“Yes.” I answered without looking at him. “I’m going back.”
“Very well, then.” Orcin swam closer to the rock. “If you would be so kind as to extend your arm.”
“What for?” I asked, now looking at him. I walked to the edge of the rock and knelt. “The charm?”
“Yes.” Orcin held out his hand, and in it there was a thread bracelet with a lone sea shell dangling from it. “It can never be taken off.”
I nodded and extended my arm. He slipped it on and wound it till it was tight enough and wouldn’t slip off me even if I got caught in harsh waves. It glowed and radiated heat, then the glow traveled from my wrist, up my arm, and settled above my heart for a bit before fading. I stood up and relaxed when I didn’t feel any differently. Apparently those merfolk were straight-forward, no tricks or anything. Good, I wasn’t in the mood to try and outsmart them.
“I really wish you would take some time to think about this, Nerida.” Dylan’s voice was so broken it jolted me out of me reverie. “I am sorry. For all the things I did, for all the pain I caused you, and Mom. Please, if you change your mind, come to me and we can talk. I missed you so much, little sister.”
“Don’t.” I shook my head and tried to figure out how I was going to go back. There were five tunnels leading out of here and I didn’t know which one led to the part of the caves we hung out at. “Just don’t, Dylan.”
“Just let me say this.” He looked at me beseechingly. “Please, Nerida.”
I sighed and nodded for him to continue. Maybe if he said what he wanted to say he’d let me go. I had no idea how I was going to explain all this, but I had to come up with something. Knowing Anne and Mel, they’d probably already called the police, which meant my Mom probably knew I was missing or dead. Shit.
“If you ever need to talk to me, come to the caves and summon Mira. She’s stationed there most of the time. If she’s not there then summon Tiron, her partner. Tell them you need to see me, and either I will come to you or they will take you to me.”
“We’re not coming back here.” I laughed humorlessly. “Anne and Mel would never agree. And I’m not stepping foot near the place where I almost died!”
“Well, now you know how to find me.” He shrugged helplessly. “Can I make sure you get home safely?”
“Someone will be waiting for me at the caves.” I said. “You can’t be seen. Everyone thinks you’re dead.”
A pained look flashed in his eyes but he composed himself and gazed at the hundred or so faces around us. “Zale.” He called.
A guy a few years older than me swam to us. He had tanned skin and startling blue eyes, and short blondish hair. His eyes connected with mine for a second before he looked at Dylan. “Yeah?”
“Swim with her as far as you can go without being seen.” Dylan sighed and then looked at me. “He’ll show you the way. The caves can be tricky.”
“I’ll say.” I rolled my eyes and nodded. “Fine, Dylan. I’ll go with the mermaid.”
“Merman.” Zale growled and I scowled at him. “Know the difference, human.”
“I have a feeling I’m gonna accidentally drown somewhere along the way.” I narrowed my eyes at him then jumped into the water. It was freezing now and I gritted my teeth. “Dammit.”
“Nerida?”
I turned and looked at Dylan, still on the rock. “What?”
“Just think about what I told you.” He jumped into the water and took off his shorts. I felt his tail touch my leg and I jerked away from him, bumping into Zale and consequently his tail.
“I just need to get out of here.” I growled. I turned and looked at Zale, who was smirking at me. “Shall we, Merman?”
“Let’s go, Human.” He took my hand and suddenly I was wrenched forward and was speeding through the water. I tugged my arm and he slowed down and looked at me, but we were already in one of the tunnels. I surfaced and coughed.
I heard his laughter and glared at him. “What’s so funny?”
“I generally find humans in distress amusing.” He answered. “Especially when in water.”
“You’re a jerk that way, then.”
“Jerk means rude, right?” He asked. “Dylan told me that one but among all the other human words he told me I seem to have forgotten what it meant.”
“Human words?” I asked as he started pulling me along but in a more reasonable speed, which was still fast for me. He made sure our heads were above water though, so that was nice of him.
“Us merfolk, we speak all languages known to man.” He shrugged. “But there are certain words that humans come up with that we don’t know about.”
“Wow, you wouldn’t survive out there at all.” I shook my head. “Most of the words us humans use these days are new and made-up.”
“I couldn’t understand your brother for months.” He said. “But then he started talking like us and it was all right.”
“How old are you?” I didn’t want to talk about Dylan. I didn’t want to think about him.
“Twenty-five.”
“Have you always been a merman?” I asked. “Or are you like my brother?”
“I was born a merman, yes.” He nodded. “But a long way from here. I left my kingdom when I was fifteen and came here.”
“There’s another kingdom?”
“Yes.” He stopped and turned to look at me. “This is far as I can go. Follow the tunnel for a bit more and it will lead you to the mouth of the caves.” He gave me a small smile. “Goodbye, human.”
“Goodbye, merman.” I swam a bit ahead and then looked at him over my shoulder. “I’m not gonna get attacked again, am I?”
“No.” He chuckled. “Just don’t piss anyone off. And thanks to your impeccable aim, Mira’s now with the healers.” He nodded at me. “Off you go, I think I hear some humans.”
“Bye.” I said. “And thanks.”
He nodded and then went under, his tail rising out of the water. I turned around and started swimming in the opposite direction, thinking it was beautiful.
I swam twenty feet or so then I heard them. Mel was snapping at someone, and then someone – who sounded a lot like Andrew – snapped back. I quickened my movements even though I was sore and dog-tired. Then I rounded a corner and saw the opening of the caves. Mel and Anne stood on the rocks outside, gauze taped around Mel’s injured arm. Mike was holding Anne, soothing her. Andrew was pacing back and forth on the rocks outside the caves, and Kyle was trying to get a signal.
“Guys.” I shouted and got out of the water. I jogged to them before they could step into the caves.
“Oh my God, Ner!” Anne screamed and launched herself at me, sobbing. I hugged her back and tried to calm her down. “I thought you were dead.”
“And miss you telling me about your first date with Mike? Not a chance.” I stepped out of her embrace and faced the others, who looked at me with open-jaws. “Damn that squid was something, all right.”
“So it was a squid?” Mel asked and gave me a hug too, which shocked me more than finding out my brother was alive and was now half-fish. “That bitch hit me with a goddamn harpoon!”
“I think it was defending itself somehow.” I shrugged. “I’m back now, yeah? Can we go back? My mom will kill me.” I looked at the guys. “How and why did you guys get here?”
“We noticed that your boat hadn’t come back and it was getting late.” Mike said. “We came here to see what was going on, found Mel and Anne in hysterics. We calmed them down a bit and heard what happened.” He studied me for a bit. “What happened with you?”
I needed to think. Fast. “Well, the squid dragged me away till we were in the tunnels, then I started struggling and we sorta got into a wrestling match, which is not any easy feat when you’re wrestling with something that has eight arms.” I tugged a strand of hair behind my ear and continued, finding myself on a roll. “It finally let me go and just swam away, and I tried to get back out here but I got lost.”
“Are you hurt?” Anne asked and then looked down at my body. “Oh my God, what happened to you?”
I looked down and saw that the tentacles had left a mark on me. Long blue bruises circled my torso. “Damn squid.”
“Do we need to take you to a hospital?” Kyle asked. “Did you hit your head?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I feel fine, just tired.”
“Let’s go, then.” He said and looked behind me at the caves. “I don’t wanna be here anymore.”
“Me neither.” I shuddered, remembering what had happened to me today. “I need to get home. Shower. Snuggle up in my bed.”
“Sounds like a nice plan.” Mike smiled at me and then pulled a still upset Anne in his arms. “Thanks for saving my girl, Ner.”
“And sorry you almost died in the process.” Anne said. “I feel so awful.”
“Don’t.” I waved my hand dismissively. “We’re safe, and alive. Which I won’t be if I don’t make it home soon. Mom’s gonna kill me.”
“Let’s go.” Mike turned and walked to the boats, his arms still around Anne. Mel and Kyle walked ahead of me and Andrew, who slowed down a bit. I turned to look at him.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” He shook his head. “No. I died a little today.”
Oh God…Not now, Andrew, please. “Yeah, well,” I chuckled. “You’re not the one who had a wrestling match with a squid.”
He looked at me and there was pain in his brown eyes. “I might as well have.”
I looked away and willed myself to keep everything under control. Just till I got home. I could break down back home. “I’m okay, let’s go. I wanna leave this place.”
He nodded and we both headed towards the others. I found that the girls were in the boys’ boat and I looked at them questioningly.
“Boat’s not working.” Anne shrugged. “I tried to get us back to shore and send for help but it wouldn’t start.”
I nodded. “I’ll come back with you tomorrow to tow it back.”
“We’ll take care of it.” Mike said as he helped me onto the boat. “You girls stay away from the caves for a bit.”
“Don’t go in there, guys.” I warned them. “It’s horrible. Please don’t even think about it.”
“You came back.” Mike said matter-of-factly.
“Who else has?” I asked. “Mike, please don’t risk it. Think of Anne. What if something happened to you?”
“She’s right.” Anne said in a small voice as Kyle started commandeering the boat. “Please don’t.”
Mike looked at her and then his hard, determined expression softened. “Fine.” He wrapped his arm around her again and pressed his lips to her forehead. I marveled at how close those two already seemed. It had taken Andrew and me a while to be like that. But then again we’d started dating when I was fifteen or something.
We sailed back to the docks then the boys drove us back to where we’d parked Anne’s car. I slipped on my shorts and Andrew gave me his spare jacket so I could cover up the bruises. I wasn’t going to tell my Mom anything, not even the squid story. I didn’t want her to worry.
The boys let us drive ourselves home, sensing that we needed some time alone. It was past ten when we finally reached my place. Anne turned off the ignition and twisted in her seat to look at me, grimacing as she did so. She had to be sore from the “squid” too.
“Are you really okay?” She asked. Mel twisted in her seat to look at me too.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Just a little shaken up, though.”
“Need us to stay with you?” Mel asked.
“I think I need to see how it will go with my mom.” I smiled at them appreciatively. “But thanks, you guys. I’m really glad both of you are okay.”
“Us?” Anne asked. “What about you? You sure you don’t need to go and see a doctor?”
“I’m fine.” I waved my hand dismissively. “Just a bit sore.”
“Well, take it easy tonight.” Mel said. “And maybe tomorrow. Anne and I will swing by tomorrow if your mom doesn’t ground you.”
“I don’t get grounded.” I chuckled. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Text me when you’re both home.”
“Okay.” Anne nodded and watched me as I grabbed my stuff and headed to the house. I fished the keys out of my bag. The door swung open before I even put the keys in the keyhole and Steve stood in front of me, filling the doorway with his massive frame.
“Nerida.” He said, looking all stern, in an attempt to be parental. Yeah, no. “You missed dinner. Your mother is very upset.”
“Thanks for the heads up.” I pushed past him into the house. “Mom.” I called and checked in the kitchen and living-room, she wasn’t in there. I headed upstairs and knocked on her bedroom door before I got in. She sat on the edge of the bed, looking at a picture. I dropped my backpack on the floor and sat down next to her.
“You told me you’d be back for dinner.” She said in a small voice.
My heart squeezed and looked down at the picture she was holding. It was a family photo, taken a few days before Dad died. We were on the beach, Dylan and I in our bathing suits.
“You and your brother…” She sniffed and wiped away a wayward tear. “So much alike.”
“Really?” I tried to insert some positive emotion into my voice. Mom still thought he was dead, which meant I had to pretend that I was still sad and stuff. I was sad, just for a completely different reason now. And angry. Livid, even.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Both very stubborn but loving. Very kind. Best kids a mother could hope for.” She looked at me and smiled. “I never wanted to be that overbearing mother that controlled her children and made them spend some time with me.”
My heart squeezed again and I put my arm around her shoulder. “Anne’s boat broke down when we were on it and it took the boys some time to get to us and take us back to shore.” I hurriedly added before she started freaking out. “We were completely safe, we even had some lifejackets. We were just stuck out there for a bit.”
Mom took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. “Why didn’t you tell me you were taking the boat?”
“It was a spur of the moment decision.” I said, hating myself for lying. “And even if we’d planned it, you would’ve freaked out.”
“For a good reason!”
“I didn’t say it would be without reason.” I held my free hand up defensively. “Relax, Mom, I’m back and I’m fine. And I might even spend the whole day with you tomorrow.”
“If you have plans…”
“Then I’ll cancel them.” I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek then stood up. “Right now I just need to shower and hit the sack. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, darling.”
I picked up my bag off the floor and then turned to face her. “You know I love you, Mom, right?”
“Yes, Neri.” She smiled at me. “I love you too, sweetheart.”
I took a very long, very nice shower and then put on a long gray t-shirt and some boy shorts. I was combing my hair and working out the tangles when I stepped into my room and saw a dark figure crawl through my open window and into the room. I was just about to scream but the light from my nightstand lamp showed me who it was and I clutched my chest in relief.
“Andrew.” I gasped in some air. “What the…What are you doing here?”
“Sorry I scared you.” He whispered. “Just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
This was slightly getting out of hand. But I was too tired to argue and try to tell him again that I didn’t have those feelings for him anymore. “It’s fine. Come on in.”
He smiled at me sheepishly and stepped towards me. I held up my hands, went to close the door and lock it, and then turned back to face him. He had his hands in the pockets of his board shorts and was still shirtless. I remembered the jacket he’d given me and retrieved it from my closet. “Thanks for that, by the way. I would’ve frozen to death without it.”
He took it from me and nodded. “No problem.”
I looked around the room and my gaze settled on my unmade bed. “Wanna sit?”
“Sure.”
We both sat down next to each other on the edge of the bed. We were quiet for a while, lost in thought, trying to come up with something to end the very awkward silence.
“Are you okay now?” He asked, turning his head to look at me. “Feeling better?”
“Yeah.” I sighed and nodded. “Felt much better after my shower.” My control was slipping, I knew it was only a matter of time before the events of the day caught up to me and I broke down. The question was; could I break down in front of someone? Especially if that someone was my ex-boyfriend Andrew?
“I know we’re not as close as we used to be, Nerida. I know that.” He reached out and held my hand. I’d always loved the feel of my hand in his. He’d always treated me as if I was delicate and special, but he’d always acknowledged my strength. Andrew had been very good to me. The reason I broke up with him was all me, it had nothing to do with him. “But I still wanna be there for you. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
I nodded and wiped away the tears that were finally falling. “I know. And I don’t know if I can let someone be there for me. Letting someone be there for me means that I have to depend on that person to comfort me and to make me happy. Anything could happen to that someone. And I can’t risk that anymore.”
“I understand that.” He nodded, his eyes and voice full of compassion and kindness. “If it were me, I’d feel the same way too. Hell, sometimes I feel it, even though I haven’t gone through what you have. But I did lose someone, Nerida. Someone I loved very much.”
I looked at him and read the answer to my unasked question in his eyes. Me. He was talking about me. He’d never actually told me he loved me. He’d told me that he loved certain things about me, but he hadn’t exactly said it. And now he was sort of telling me.
He shook his head and looked away. “I’m not here to make you feel worse. I’m here to try and make it better, if I can. And I really want to, Ner, I really do.”
“Why do you still care?” I whispered, my chest heaving. “After everything I did…”
“You didn’t do anything.” He pushed my hair out of my face. “All you did was be honest with me. I can’t ask for something else.”
I pulled my legs up and hugged my knees to me, rocking back and forth. “Andrew, I’m just…Today hasn’t been very good to me.”
“I know.” He rubbed my back and put his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. The familiarity and the warmth were too much, and I succumbed and let him soothe me. Andrew had always been good at that. “I’m sorry.”
I rested my forehead in the crook of his neck and snuggled closer to him. I let everything out through my sobs. My brother was alive, but I could never tell my mother. I could never soothe her pain, the result of losing her own child the same way she lost her husband. And she almost lost me today.
I couldn’t tell her, because the betrayal and pain that she would feel if she found out that her own son had let her think he’d drowned just so he could be with a girl-fish, it would kill her. And me in the process, because of that damn charm.
And there was me, and how I felt. My brother wasn’t even my brother even more. I’d just lost him all over again. And now the memory I had of him was tarnished. I’d always thought of him as my protector. I’d always counted on him to be there and to help me. I’d gone to him whenever I was confused or whenever I needed advice, or if I’d just needed to talk. I’d never questioned his love for me, even when we’d fought. And now I knew that his love hadn’t been that strong. He’d left us – me – and he’d let me think he was dead. For two freaking years. He’d joined the people who’d probably taken Dad. I mentally froze there for a second. I hadn’t even thought of that when I’d been with Dylan. It hadn’t crossed my mind. That traitor! He’d gone and holed up with the people who murdered my father. I remembered Mira’s tentacles, the same dark shade as the tentacles that had dragged Dad off the boat all these years ago. Goddammit, Dylan! How could he do this to us? To Dad?
I sobbed harder and Andrew continued holding me. I now knew why Dylan had asked me to think more before I’d made any decisions. I wished I could tell Andrew everything, to confide in him. I wouldn’t truly be comforted or soothed till I told someone. And now I couldn’t. Now I couldn’t mention it to anyone. Not my mother, not Andrew, not Mel nor Anne. I had no one to talk to.
I pulled away and got up, went into the bathroom and washed my face. God, I was a mess. And I looked horrible. My eyes were puffy and bloodshot, my nose running. I cleaned up as best as I could then turned and looked through the door at Andrew, still sitting there, watching me.
“Come here.” I said in a croaky voice.
He got up and walked towards me, his eyes not leaving mine. I grabbed a paper towel and ran into under the tap. Then I turned back to him and wiped away where my tears and, ugh mucus, had smeared him. Suddenly I was very aware of the fact that all he had on were his board shorts and flip-flops. I finished cleaning him up then tossed the paper towel in the bin below the sink.
Andrew cupped my face and I looked up into his face, his warm chocolate-y eyes. I remembered a time when I’d gotten lost in those eyes. I wasn’t having those feelings now, I wasn’t falling for him again, but there were feelings all right. He took a step closer to me but kept his hands where they were. “You okay now?”
“Yeah.” I smiled at him because I couldn’t nod. “Atleast I will be. It’s just been a rough day.”
“Yeah.” He nodded and looked down at his feet. He was quiet for a bit, lost in thought. Then he took a deep breath and let it out, it came out all shuddery, as if he was nervous. “The hell with it.” And then he was kissing me.
I was frozen for a few seconds, my lips unmoving as his tried to coax a reaction from them. My lack of reaction made him pause, and he was just about to pull away when I snapped out of it and found myself kissing him back. My hands found their way to his hair and my fingers plowed through it. His hands moved down from my face and they glided over my shoulders, down my back, till they rested on my waist.
At some point I remembered that he had a girlfriend. I tore my mouth away from his and I said as I gasped. “Your girlfriend. We can’t do this.”
“It’s just a fling.” He reached for me again and pulled me up against him, my body flush to his. “We’re not serious.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Andrew, I don’t wanna be the other girl.”
“You’re not.” He kissed me. “You’re the only girl.”
I melted against him and kissed him back feverishly. My heart was pounding within my chest as I wove my arms around his neck and glued myself to him. He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. The kiss took on a life of its own as we kissed like we’d never done before. This was more grown-up than anything we’d ever done, which was sort of ridiculous.
I felt more than saw that he was carrying me back to bed. I tensed and he halted. I pulled back to look at him and saw that he was panting just as I was. I rested my forehead against his and shook my head. “Andrew, we can’t.”
“Nerida, I told you.” He said. “It’s not serious.”
“It’s not that.” I wriggled and he set me down on my feet. “I can’t because it’s not right. You and I…I’m sorry I let this go further than…Look, this doesn’t mean that we’re gonna get back together.” I sighed. “I don’t know how to say this without hurting you, Andrew, I really don’t.”
“It’s okay.” He sighed. “I get it, don’t worry.”
“God.” I covered my face and sat down on the bed. “I hate myself.”
He pulled my hands away and squatted in front of me. “Don’t worry about it, Ner. I shouldn’t have come onto you like that. This will make me sound like a Neanderthal, but I was just trying to comfort you.” He hurriedly added. “Not that I wasn’t enjoying it, I mean, I always do. Wait, that came out wrong…”
I giggled and hugged him. “It’s okay. I get it, don’t worry.”
He chuckled when he heard his own words spoken back to him. “Well, at least I got you to smile.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at him as I pulled back. “Thanks for coming here, Andrew.”
“No problem.” He stood up and I stood up as well. What was supposed to happen now? “You gonna be okay on your own?”
I knew deep down that if he left, I’d break down again. And if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t want to be alone. I didn’t want him to leave just yet. I also didn’t know what to tell him right now, so I just shrugged.
He sighed and looked around. “What happens if I stay?” He looked back at me. “I know we’re not gonna…you know. But maybe I can stay for a bit, till you fall asleep at least.”
“If you need to go, it’s fine.” I tried to smile at him but the thought of being alone tonight was dampening my already-sullen mood. “I think I’ll manage.”
He sighed again and nodded at the bed. “Get in, Ner. I’ll stay with you for a bit, make sure you’re fine.”
I nodded and smiled at him appreciatively. What we were doing was a bit dangerous. Emotional teenagers with a romantic history in the same bed was very, very dangerous. But I slid in and pulled the covers over me. Andrew slipped off his flip-flops and walked around the bed. He got in and pulled the covers up, then he spread his arms, an invitation. I curled up next to him and rested my head on his nicely-muscled arm. His thumb brushed against my shoulder and he rested his chin on my forehead. Even though that was the closest we’d got since we met, and even we’d just been making out not a few minutes ago, there was nothing sensual about being curled up together. It was just comforting. And I needed any sort of comfort.
“How come I’m the only girl?” I whispered and looked up at him. Our faces were so close I could feel his breath on my skin.
He smiled at me. “She’s just a distraction. And she knows I’m not looking for something serious. She isn’t either.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “You’re the one that matters to me, Ner.”
I closed my eyes. “Sorry about that.”
He chuckled. “Don’t be.”
I tipped my head back and pressed my lips to his. It felt so familiar, and familiar was comforting. I snuggled closer to him, his arm circled my waist and pulled me even closer.
I wanted to say that we’d gone to sleep right afterwards, but sleep evaded us as we held each and kissed for a couple of hours.